Micromax’s market share hit a slump giving away its position as India’s largest smartphone manufacturer to Samsung. The drop in sales comes during turbulent times—several top executives have resigned from their posts and the company struggles to keep up with the highly competitive smartphone market in India. Economic Times reports that shipments of smartphones jumped 29 per cent—nearly 103 million units were sold last year.
The report adds that Micromax, back in 2014, had brought in outside executives to drive their expansion plans forward. However, the founders and the new managers were at loggerheads and, as a result, the investors backed out. Reportedly, Alibaba walked away from a $1.2 billion purchase of a 20 per cent stake citing a lack of clarity in the company’s growth plans.
Micromax is struggling to raise funds for expansion outside the country. Chinese companies continue to aggressively push out smartphones at very competitive prices and the playing field has become tougher than ever for the native smartphone brand. Even bigger brands such as Samsung and Lenovo have launched high-end smartphones at affordable prices.
Micromax’s share in the smartphone market fell to 13 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015 from 22 per cent in 2014 according to International Data Corporation.
